Cereal numbers: Her first cello was made from a Rice Krispies box

Alisa Weilerstein’s connection with her instrument of choice – the cello – is so innate and exceptional that it borders on mystical.

At age 2, sick with the itchy rash of the chicken pox, she played with the homemade instruments that her grandmother had built for her out of cereal boxes. She grew frustrated that her Rice Krispies cello couldn’t produce a sound – not even a “snap,” “crackle,” or “pop” – so she asked for a real cello at age 4. Less than a year later, she got one. When she was 13, she was invited to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra, considered one of the “Big Five” American orchestras.

“I remember thinking, ‘I’ve waited my whole 13-year-old life for this chance,’ ” she says, and then the memory makes her laugh.

Not all prodigies make the transition from child star to adult master (puberty can make a mess of more things than just your complexion). But Weilerstein has beaten the odds. That Cleveland Orchestra debut was her first guest-artist gig, but far from her last.

This season alone, her schedule includes stops in London, New York, Salzburg, Moscow, Washington, D.C., and Boston, where she’ll perform the world premiere of German composer Matthias Pintscher’s “un despertar” for cello and orchestra, March 23-25 at Symphony Hall. For new music lovers, it’s a highlight of the BSO’s season.

Weilerstein, recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant” fellowship, is known for her passionate and intense performances. But with “un despertar,” she’ll be interpreting music that’s more nuanced.

“Matthias is a master craftsman and a master of invention and color,” says Weilerstein. “He examines all the possibilities of the cello. This piece is deeper and very lyrical.”

It’s possible for musical subtleties to get lost in stately Symphony Hall.

“You have to make sure the intimate effects of the piece are heard by the back row of the audience,” she says. “The challenge is to convey those private moments rather than playing something that’s explosive. This piece has its big and bombastic moments, but primarily the characteristics of the piece are more private.”

The Boston Symphony Orchestra co-commissioned “un despertar,” offering Weilerstein a chance to revisit her creative partnership with Pintscher. She understands and appreciates the contributions that Pintscher has made to the classical repertory in general, and to the cello in particular.

“Oh, he understands the instrument very well,” says Weilerstein. “His work for the cello is virtuosic. You can see the full range of the cello in his work. He can make the cello cry and he can make it scream. But he can also work in the mezzo range,” as he does in “un despertar.” “It’s very beautiful.”

The performance needs to come together quickly. One of the challenges of being a touring soloist is that there’s no time to create the rapport that members of a symphony orchestra build over years, even decades, of playing together. So some of Weilerstein’s work on “un despertar” needs to be done before she even arrives.

“You can study the score on your own and you can get an understanding of how things fit together,” she says. “But you need to know your part very well [before you arrive]. I think we’re only going to have three rehearsals. That’s why everyone needs to be prepared when they show up.” The laugh that follows may be more nerves than humor.

But a big payoff waits on the other side of that challenge.

“Everyone’s hearing it for the first time,” she says. “That’s what’s so exciting about premiering a new piece.”

This concert marks the first time Weilerstein has worked with the conductor Francois-Xavier Roth. With so many new elements and so little time, it would seem that premiering a new work would be doubly difficult.

But perhaps not.

“I think it might actually be easier when it’s a new work,” says Weilerstein. “With an established piece, everyone has their fully formed opinions about it, based on past performances and their favorite recordings. But a new work is a blank slate. There’s a feeling that we’re all in this together. Let’s make it the best that we can.”

She’s got the right people around her to make that happen.

The BSO “is a formidable apparatus,” she says. “Everyone is playing at the highest level. It’s large, but it’s also flexible.”

And Weilerstein is well-acquainted with it. After all, it’s in her parents’ backyard. Weilerstein was raised in Cleveland, but her parents now live in Brookline. They are accomplished musicians, and Weilerstein sometimes performs with them as a trio.

The cellist admits there are some “family dynamics” when they team up creatively, but things work out because “they are both fantastic musicians.”

And they gave birth to a prodigy.

Asked if she has any particular traits – psychologically, emotionally or musically – that explain her connection to the cello, Weilerstein responds, “I don’t know. I was only 4 when I chose it. It’s just about tenacity and discipline and curiosity and patience. I don’t think in terms of having a gift. I just knew this was what I wanted to do.”

Alisa Weilerstein performs “un despertar” with the Boston Symphony Orchestra March 23-25 at Symphony Hall, in Boston. Also on the program: “Le Corsaire” overture by Berlioz and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6. Visit bso.org or call 888-266-1200.